Saturday 2 September 2017, Safety Guide

Prey app – an anti-theft software

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Prey is a theft protection application which was designed to help locate stolen or missing devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones.

After installation, the app is controlled from a website, at which the owner can track the device's location, capture its IP address, activate the camera, sound an alarm, message the device, and finely lock it down.

Moreover, if the device is stolen, the Prey allows the owner to remotely recover the stored data and wipe the entire operating system. This means that any data stored on the device will not fall in the hands of a thief.

The Prey app can be downloaded from this website. However, the number of d

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Security experts from Lookout company have found over 500 apps in the Google Play store that allow the installation of harmful spyware. The total number of downloaded apps exceeds 100 million. Infected

Lookout experts do not provide a complete list of infected applications. However, they do confirm that the infection was found in various types of apps, such as: Internet radios, photo editors, weather applications, or emoji kits.

All the infected apps have one thing income, namely they all contained the malicious software developer kit (SDK) called IGEXIN. Once an app using a malicious version of IGEXIN is installed on a phone, the developer kit can update the app to include spyware at any time, with no warning.

The IGEXIN wa

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This time the cybercriminals have turned their attention towards the users of taxi booking apps. According to the Kaspersky Lab researchers, the unknown group of hackers has realised a new version of the well-known mobile banking Faketoken Trojan.

The malware performs live tracking of apps and, when the user runs a specified app, overlays this with its phishing window to steal the bank card details of the victim. Moreover, the trojan can monitor and record the users’ calls, transmit the data to the command and control servers, and even steal the incoming SMS message, allowing the cybercriminals to get access to one-time verification passwords sent by a banks.

For now, the Faketoken trojan targets mostly the Russian Android users. However, th

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The police warns of a newly discovered method of extorting money, more precisely – plastic money. This threat concerns, in particular, the owners of service points and shops which are using payment terminals.

The scam is relatively straightforward, however in order to be successful, it does require that the fraudsters acquire several essential pieces of information. To that end the shop owner is contacted by a person who claims to be a representative of the company which has been providing the non-cash payment service. The “consultant” explains that an automatic terminal update has failed, and – for the device to work properly – a manual update is required. Then the scammer instructs the unsuspecting victim how to “properly modify” the device settings.

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The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UKOiK) issued a warning concerning one of the polish telecommunications company, known as Nasza S.A. The company consultants mislead the consumers, posing as the representatives of the current telecom operator.

The UKOiK received numerous complaints, primarily from deceived elders. The contract that the customer gets to sign contains no Nasza S.A. logo, but the logo of the current customer operator is clearly visible.

After the conclusion of the contract, the customer learn that the subscription includes additional charges for different services, like: call lists, number display or accidental death and dismemberment insurance. All the additional charges are billed without the client's consent.

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Data security experts from Lookout Mobile Security have detected more than a thousand spy apps in the Google Play store.

A good example is SponicSpy – an application which impersonates popular Internet messengers, like Hulk Messenger or Troy Chat. After installation, SonicSpy tries to download a modified version of Telegram. Cybercriminals can capture our contact information or Wi-Fi passwords. In addition, the application records user’s conversations and then sends them to the cybercriminal’s server.

The security experts from Lookout Mobile Security have noted a strong similarity of SonicSpy code with the earlier generation of another malicious app known as Spynote, which was also available in the Google Play store.

G

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The researchers at security firm Check Point have identified a new strain of malware, dubbed CopyCat. The adware has infected 14 million Android devices around the world and allowed its authors to successfully root (gain admin privileges) over half of them.

After rooting the device, the malware targets and exploits the Zygote, an Android OS core process that launches apps. Once it has control of the Zygote, the malware can displays fraudulent ads and steals the app installation credits

The experts have estimated that – in less than two months time – the adware helped earn the attackers approximately 1.5 million USD, primarily through ad fraud. The majority of the profit came from nearly 5 million fake installations on infected devices, whi

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Watch out for premium rate phone numbers. The Next portal reader noticed a missed call from +88XXXXXXXXX numbers. Calls like this can be quite expensive – and, for just a few minutes of conversation – the rate can exceed tens of zlotys!

How it that possible? The criminals redirect the unsuspecting caller via satellite phone. Calling a satellite phone from traditional landlines or cell phones is more expensive than normal calls. Depending on the satellite network provider, the call rates vary from around 8 to 12 zlotys post-tax per minute.

Before dialling the unknown number it is worth checking how many digits the number contain. If it consists of 12 to 15 digits, that means that the number is international, and therefore expensive. Further

Saturday 5 August 2017, Safety Guide

Biometric cameras in Berlin

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Three cameras were installed at the Sükreuz train station in Berlin, enabling the biometric identification of persons considered as dangerous by the authority. The project is designed to prevent terrorism.

The cameras, connected to a computer system, are intended to detect suspicious persons that are in the database. The system is to be tested for 6 months.
The developers believe that the system will allow to effectively prevent terroristic attacks and other forms of crime.

Three hundred people attended the tests, whose biometric and personal data were entered into the database. When the camera identifies a person in the database, the system will automatically responds and warn of a danger.

The project has been cri

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Copies of sensitive documents (i.e. identity cards, driving license, notarial deeds or employment contracts) were widely available to every guest and user of the Docer.pl portal. This shocking finding was revealed and described on the Wykop.pl website  by one of the "diggers".

Docer.pl portal allows its users to store different types of data in various formats such as .pdf, .rtf, or .docx. It seems that the users did not realize that, according with the Docer.pl terms and conditions policy, all retained records can be viewed by other users without any restrictions.

When the matter became public, the sensitive data was removed from the website. However, if you are Docer user and your private data is still available to others,

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Apple has released security update for both iOS and MacOS. The patch is critical to avoid potential infection by the Broadpwn virus.

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has rated Broadpwn a 9.8 out of 10 on its severity scale.

The virus is classified as very dangerous because it can affect the wi-fi chips found in Apple smartphones and allows the hacker to target these devices so long as they are in the wi-fi range.

According to the security experts at Exodus Intelligence, even a passcode will not protect iPhones from the bug, which can bypass the security feature to exploit the weakness.

How to get the latest update?
In order to download the iOS 10.3.3 patch the iPhone users n

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The McAfee specialists warn the Android system users about a new type of threat – a ransomware called LeakerLocker.

Ransomware is a  relatively new form of cyberattack that involves hackers taking control of a victim's computer and blocking access to it until the ransom is paid.

LeakerLocker blocks the user's smartphone, threatening to publish private data such as SMS and  browser history, email address, contacts or pictures. In addition, the sensitive information will be available to everyone included in the victim's contact list.

McAfee researchers have identified two apps in the Google Play store that carry LeakerLocker: Wallpapers Blur HD and Booster and Cleaner Pro.

The security ex

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The police are looking for people who have been deceived by the incomp.pl on-line store. In most cases the assortment offered by the e-store, in the form of household appliances and electronics, did not reach the awaiting customers.

The store offered the equipment at a very attractive prices, reduced by up to several tens of percent. The clients, who were concerned about the delays in delivery of the purchased goods, were appeased by the Incomp consultants. Terms and conditions of the store provided delivery time from 2 up to 21 days.

According to the police, the fraudsters conducting the fake on-line store, have illegally “borrowed” the name of the real Incomp store, located in Rzeszow, which does not sell its products via the Internet.&l

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If somebody's identity has been stolen, the victim may suffers serious consequences, and the fight to prove the one's innocence is long.
Over a year ago, we wrote about a Silesian resident who has received a call for payment from one of the mobile network companies for overdue invoices. The claim amounted to several thousand zlotys. Later on it was revealed that the unknown fraudster has impersonated the victim and signed a contract with the mobile network company.

The Polish Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Mariusz Blaszczak has recently announced several changes in the existing legislation, which are intended to prevent this type of abuse.

The new legislation will give the every polish citizen the right to report at t

Thursday 13 July 2017, Safety Guide

A smart speaker has saved lives

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The abcNEWS portal has recently described an interesting case, about an intelligent speaker which called the police during a home brawl in New Mexico. If not for the swift intervention of the clever device, the household quarrel could have end up badly for the woman and her baby.

A young couple got into an argument, which then became physical. The situation was very serious because the man had wielded a firearm and threatened to kill the woman. During the quarrel the aggressor had repetitively asked his girlfriend: "Did you call the sheriff?". At that moment a smart speaker, which was hooked up to a surround sound system inside the home, recognized the command as “Call the sheriff”and called a police dispatcher.

The police force